Anti-incumbent super PAC's leader starts second super PAC

By Fredreka Schouten and Ray Locker, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON
–
The leader of a super PAC that says it wants to hold entrenched House incumbents accountable by targeting them in primary elections has launched a separate political action committee that's attacking a Tennessee Republican who has served in Congress for less than two years.

By Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

The Congressional Elections PAC has reported spending $45,000 this month on television advertising to oppose Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn.

The Congressional Elections PAC has reported spending $45,000 this month on television advertising to oppose Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn.

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The Campaign for Primary Accountability has multiple ties to the Congressional Elections PAC, which has reported spending $45,000 this month on television advertising to oppose freshman Rep. Diane Black ahead of next week's GOP primary in Tennessee.

The Congressional Elections PAC shares an address with American Strategic Analysis and Performance Services, a political-consulting firm owned by Leo Linbeck III. Linbeck, a Houston construction-company executive, founded the Campaign for Primary Accountability; the two groups share a treasurer.

All of the money the Congressional Elections PAC has spent against Black to date comes from Andrew Miller— a close ally of Black's opponent, Tea Party activist Lou Ann Zelenik, according to Miller and Curtis Ellis, a Linbeck spokesman.

Linbeck, who has said he created the Campaign for Primary Accountability to "level the playing field" for newcomers seeking to challenge well-funded House incumbents, did not return telephone calls Thursday.

Ellis, however, described the new Congressional Elections super PAC as offering another outlet for "civic engagement."

He said Linbeck's consulting group created the new PAC "for the explicit purpose of people such as Andrew Miller, who would like to use the expertise of the team" even if the contest doesn't involve longtime House members.

A pair of 2010 federal court rulings, including the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, paved the way for corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to spend unlimited amounts to influence federal races through super PACs such as these. Individuals, however, can only give $2,500 to a House candidate for a primary election.

Critics charge Linbeck's super PACs have emerged as a vehicle for wealthy individuals to have undue influence in congressional contests.

"The Campaign for Primary Accountability undermines the people's voice and will," said Jose Borjon, a spokesman for Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes, an eight-term incumbent defeated in a May Democratic primary after the Houston-based super PAC spent $240,000 on the race. "They don't want to just 'level the playing field' as they claim. They want to buy seats in Congress for the super rich."

In the May primary, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke, a former member of the El Paso City Council, defeated Reyes, despite the incumbent's nearly 3-to-1 fundraising advantage.

In February, USA TODAY reported that Campr II Partners, a firm owned by O'Rourke's father-in-law, El Paso real-estate developer William Sanders, had contributed $18,750 to the Campaign for Primary Accountability.

Ellis called complaints by defeated incumbents about the super PAC's spending "laughable," pointing to numerous defense-industry donations to Reyes, the No. 2 Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

"Everyone who gripes has been the recipient of huge amounts of special-interest money, much of it from outside their districts," he said.

In all, the Campaign for Primary Accountability has pumped more than $1.8 million into last-minute spending to shape this year's House primaries. So far, the Tennessee race between Black and Zelenik is the only contest in which the Congressional Elections PAC has reported spending.

Miller, a Nashville investor and Zelenik's former finance chairman, told USA TODAY this week that he donated $80,000 to the Congressional Elections PAC. He said another $180,000 has gone to Citizens 4 Ethics in Government, a super PAC he founded.

As of Thursday morning, the two groups had spent a combined $216,955 on last-minute ads opposing Black, federal records show. The primary is Aug. 2.

Miller said he will use Citizens 4 Ethics in Governmentin the months ahead to help more conservatives who he says will defend states' rights, rein in government spending and curb what he views as President Obama's executive overreach.

Contributing: Christopher Schnaars

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